Souvenir: A painting
called Gentlemen of Malta
This painting, showing the 17 men who would form the illegal
international conspiracy is a reminder to you of the adventure you
called:
Melvin and the Mysterious Malta Group
It all began when Indigo told you that the Malta Group had kidnapped
one of their informants, a man named Melvin Langley. You tried to rescue
him, but the Malta Group had already spirited him away and you only
found his computer. You found out that Melvin had been researching the
Might for Right act of the 50's.
Fearing that Malta would start to tie up loose ends by eliminating
people Melvin Langley had talked to, you reacted quickly to news of the
abduction of Jim 'Thunderhead' Bartlett and rescued him from the Malta
Group. He told you that Melvin had interviewed him about the transition
years in the superhuman community after the end of the Second World War,
and how many heroes had left the service for civilian life.
You next stopped the Malta group from destroying the office where
Melvin Langley worked, and discovered that Melvin had been a research
file clerk for the CIA.
With Melvin still missing, Crimson had you begin a clever operation
to make Malta uncertain of just how much Melvin Langley really knew. You
first rescued a woman whom Melvin had employed as a proofreader from the
Knives of Artemis. She gave you a copy of Melvin's last report, which
you returned to Crimson. He in turn gave you an altered copy of that
report to plant. With Malta confused about Melvin, it bought you more
time.
You next rescued a British politician named Lester Chesterford, whom
Melvin had interviewed about a secret intelligence agency conference on
the Island of Malta held in the late 60's after the Might for Right act
was overturned.
You next investigated an abandoned office where Malta Group agents
had set themselves up. You found some interesting information the agents
were there to destroy, information that showed that millions of dollars
had been secretly embezzled from intelligence agencies world wide for
decades and funneled into other projects.
You thought you got a break on Melvin Langley's location and jumped a
group of Malta Operatives who were about to move a prisoner. Instead of
Melvin, you found a man named Art Returio, who had been targeted for
recruitment by force by the Malta Group due to his power to make someone
forget the last few minutes of their lives. Art Described the chilling
details of how the Malta Group treated metahumans.
With Melvin still in Malta's hands, Crimson decided to change
tactics. Originally he and Indigo had hoped that Melvin Langley could
return to a normal life when this was done, but by now that was clearly
going to be impossible. The new strategy began by sending you to recover
some of Melvin's notes from a trip he took to the island of Malta and to
make sure that the Malta Group knew about it. After you recovered the
notes, Indigo told you that she felt responsible for all of this, as she
and Crimson had been deliberately trying to lead Melvin on the road to
the Malta group by engaging his curiosity so that they could recruit him
as an information gathering resource. They'd never meant for him to get
in so much trouble, though.
You next rescued an old Russian spy named Mavra Varvarinsky from
Malta captors, and found an encoded listing of the Malta Group's
detention centers in the city. Melvin was sure to be in one of them.
Madame Varvarinsky also told you about how a mysterious intelligence
group of unknown origin decimated Russia's spy network in the 60's with
brutal efficiency.
You next attacked a former government computer lab that had been
taken over by Malta as an information clearing house. You found a great
deal of information, including a clue to Melvin's location.
You struck a meeting between Crey staff and the Malta group to
double-check the deductions Indigo had made based on the information you
gathered.
With the information double-checked, you were able to attack the
disused 5th Column base where the Malta Group had been hiding Melvin
Langley. With Melvin free at last and more determined to fight Malta
than ever, Crimson took you aside and explain the shocking truth: He'd
known about Melvin's location for almost the whole time, but kept the
situation going in order to make sure that neither Indigo nor Melvin had
been compromised by the Malta Group. He didn't apologize, but he did
explain that the reason he used you that way was because he could trust
you to do the right thing. Indigo told you that she didn't blame Crimson
for all of that, and then thanked you for working with her and for
trusting her throughout the operation. With heroes like you on their
side, she said, the battle against Malta would never be lost.
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